Reading Response: The Giver

 The book "The Giver" takes on some important issues in coming of age. In a world that is so perfect that, that itself makes it imperfect. Imperfections are what make the world perfect in its own way. For a teen to be growing up and coming of age with a ceremony, this being the most important of all, it is very difficult for a child coming of age to find themselves in a world that is perfect. Finding oneself is very important and an essential part of what is the entire idea of "coming of age". For Jonas, the main character, it must be very difficult for him to find himself in a community that has already defined his entire life.

The community decides everything for him. His clothes were picked for him, his entire life was set in a certain way. But, as life would have it, Jonas meets his mentor and teacher figure, The Giver. The Giver teaches him about how life really is. For Jonas, this was a very big realization. He now has all the knowledge to finally discover himself.

As I think about it I second guess myself. Sometimes, you actually DO need someone telling you what to do. You need someone to guide you and teach you how to actually live your life instead of just pushing you out into the open world without you having the knowledge you need to live. You need someone to give you the tools and knowledge to go and live your life. In some cases, if you are pushed out into the world without the proper tools and knowledge you are pretty much lost. In the community where Jonas lives, they do, in a way, give them what they need to figure out their world but only to some extent. And they DO teach them, but for what? Because in the community that Jonas lives, they teach them only what they need to know in order to survive in a community where they are supposed to be submissive and obey all orders given out through a loud speaker.

It is natural for a human being to rebel against their superiors but the thing is, that after a while, all we want to do is test out limits. Its only natural. Testing our limits is part of what being human is like. In the community, the people who live there are not permitted to do something out of line, or something that is not written in the rules. The rules are everything to them. They follow it to every last detail which makes them in a way, submissive and not even human like. Sometimes, to fund out who you are, you need to break some rules. Breaking rules is what life is sometimes all about.